Last Day
by Cordria
Summary: One day Danny Fenton woke up to find that it was his last day on Earth.


_An angst day fic inspired by 'If Today Was Your Last Day' by Nickelback._

_More is coming, but I have to go to work. Upload it later. :)_

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**Last Day**  
A Danny Phantom Fanfic by Cordria

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It was, without a doubt, the most beautiful morning of my life. The birds were chirping, the sun was shining, and the ghosts were actually staying quiet. I'd gotten a complete night's sleep for once and I was totally and absolutely awake. As I scooped up a huge bite of my favorite cereal, I figured that if it weren't for school, I'd be wondering if I were still dreaming.

Or maybe I'd be thinking I'd died and gone to heaven. Surely the Gothic angel sitting at the breakfast was a clue to where I really was. She looked up, almost like she could hear my thoughts, forcing me to smother a smile and attempt to look innocent. There was no way I'd ever tell her that I was thinking she was like an angel. Not me; not about Sam.

"We're going to be late again," she reminded me, eyeing my barely-touched cereal. "Eat faster."

I chuckled a little, not even the thought of school being able to drag down my spirits today; it was simply too perfect of a morning. As she went back to reading her book, I did make a concerted effort to eat faster, but I kept finding myself slowing back down. This was an once-in-a-lifetime morning. I wanted to savor this moment, frame it and hang it on my wall, capture it in a jar and never let it go.

So when the world around me slowed to a standstill, Sam captured in a moment of brushing her hair back behind her ear, it took me more than a few moments to actually care. I let myself enjoy the feeling of having captured this morning before I looked around to find the actual source of the slowdown. With the familiar weight of a time medallion against my chest, it wasn't much of a surprise to find one particular ghost standing in my kitchen.

"Clockwork." The spirit was gazing at me with an old, wizened air that sent a chill up my spine. "What's wrong?"

Clockwork was silent for a long eternity, the strange elasticity of time around the ancient ghost bending my perception of how long it really took him to speak. He slowly shook his head, his fingers tightening around his staff. "I'm sorry, Danny."

Sitting up a little straighter, I dropped my spoon into my cereal and focused completely on the ghost. I could feel my heart start to beat faster, my eyebrows unconsciously furrowing in concentration. When it finally became apparent that Clockwork wasn't going to explain his sudden appearance or his apology, I opened my own mouth. "For what?"

Red eyes met mine, sorrow echoing through them. He spoke, his voice soft and compassionate, but full of a cold sense of finality. "You'll be dead before sunset."

It was a good thing I was still sitting down, otherwise I might have fallen at those chilling five words. I stared at him blankly, a numb feeling surrounding me. Never for a second did I question the old ghost's statement; I knew that he wouldn't say something like that as a joke.

It took some time for my mind to start working again. Questions swirled through my brain, loudly demanding answers, denying that I'd heard it correctly, a part of me feeling furious at Clockwork for having told me this. Despite how busy my mind was, the only thing that escaped my mouth was a barely breathed, "How?"

"A thousand different ways," Clockwork answered quietly. "I've watched, hundreds of times, as your actions changed the course of events. You've always been a catalyst, Danny. You've always been able to affect the things around you. But this…" The old ghost sighed. "This is inevitable. Not even I can stop it."

My eyes trailed down to my hands lying limply on the table, staring at the small veins and creases as my mind fought to understand what I was hearing. My mind was still running around in circles, but they were pointless circles that were getting me nowhere.

"I shouldn't even be here, telling you this. But for what you've done, for how you've lived, you deserve it."

A shallow nod was all I could manage in response, feeling eternity pass between each of my heartbeats. It wasn't that I was afraid of dying – I put my life on the line every day to save other people – but to be told point blank that today was going to be my last day…

My eyes closed tightly, one hand coming up to clutch at the medallion around my neck. I focused on breathing in and out, my breath shuddering slightly.

"Time will stay stopped until you take off that medallion," Clockwork said gently, a cold hand touching my shoulder as he gripped it tightly. "Take a few minutes to get a grip on it."

I couldn't open my eyes. I just nodded in response.

"I'll miss you, Danny."

I was silent for so long that by the time I managed a whispered, "Goodbye," the ancient ghost was long gone.

And there I sat, alone in my own little bubble of stopped time, the hands of time ready to count down my last day on Earth. I just let myself breathe and wait, my mind slowly setting down from its chaotic spinning. I have no idea how much time really passed – perhaps none at all – letting myself get used to the idea that I was going to die today.

I could have gotten mad at the universe. I could have broken down in tears – honestly, the thought did cross my mind. I could have given in to the impossibly intense desire to never remove the medallion. Time wouldn't ever move on and I wouldn't ever have to die.

Slowly I opened my eyes. I stared at the medallion clenched in my fingers, admiring the soft glow of the ghostly technology and the play of the morning light on the smooth metal. For some reason something as simple at that suddenly meant more than it used to. I looked up, my attention drawn almost irresistibly to the window, gazing silently out into the day waiting for me.

The sun was still shining. The birds were waiting to chirp. My cereal was still waiting to be eaten. It was still a perfect morning; nothing had changed.

My gaze slipped to my best friend, frozen in the act of brushing her hair back. I had never truly contemplated telling her how much I longed to do that for her, to feel her silken hair in my fingers, to accidently brush against her soft cheek. Now I'd never have the chance.

A deep breath slipped into and out of my lings and, without letting myself contemplate it any more, I quietly pulled the medallion over my head. It melted from between my fingers even as time started to tick again. Sam completed the movement she had begun forever and moment before, never knowing how much time had passed.

Maybe she felt my eyes on her, but she chose that moment to look up from her book and ask, "You ready?"

When I nodded and said, "Yes," I meant it in so many more ways than one.

_If today was your last day__  
And tomorrow was too late  
__Could you say goodbye to yesterday?  
__Live each moment like your last?  
__Leave old pictures in the past?  
Donate every dime you had?_


End file.
